This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-3554 filed on Jan. 10, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a gas-liquid separator for an ejector cycle.
In an ejector cycle, which is a kind of a vapor compression refrigerating cycles, an ejector draws gas refrigerant from an evaporator by compressing and expanding refrigerant. Further, the ejector increases pressure of refrigerant that is to be sucked into a compressor by converting expansion energy into pressure energy, in order to decrease a power consumption of the compressor.
The refrigerant discharged in the ejector flows into a tank body of a gas-liquid separator. The gas-liquid separator 50 separates the refrigerant into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant by using differences of densities, that is, differences of gravities exerting on the liquid refrigerant and the gas refrigerant. In the tank body, there are a mixed refrigerant region where gas-liquid refrigerant from the ejector exists and a separated refrigerant region where completely separated refrigerant exists. The mixed refrigerant region is located in a top of the tank body and the separated refrigerant region is located in a bottom of the tank body.
Because it is preferable to increase a refrigerant stream distance from the mixed refrigerant region to the separated refrigerant region, a lateral-type tank body which vertical length is greater than a horizontal length is generally used for the separator. Here, the refrigerant stream distance is not a shortest distance between the mixed refrigerant region and the separated refrigerant region, but is the distance that the refrigerant flows to be separated into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant. Hereinafter, this refrigerant stream distance is referred to as a gas-liquid separation distance.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gas-liquid separator that increases a gas-liquid separation distance of refrigerant.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a gas-liquid separator decreased in height.
In a gas-liquid separator for an ejector cycle that includes an ejector for drawing a gas refrigerant from an evaporator and increasing a pressure of refrigerant to be sucked into a compressor, a refrigerant is flowed into a tank body from the ejector and separated into a gas refrigerant and a liquid refrigerant in the tank body. The gas refrigerant is discharged from a gas refrigerant outlet toward the compressor. The liquid refrigerant is discharged from a liquid refrigerant outlet toward the evaporator. The tank body defines a refrigerant inlet through which the refrigerant is discharged into the tank body. The tank body is constructed such that the refrigerant spirally flows in the tank body.
Since the refrigerant forms a spiral stream in the tank body, a gas-liquid separation distance increases. Therefore, even in a horizontal-type tank body, the refrigerant is adequately separated into liquid refrigerant and gas refrigerant.